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I'd like to invite any new members or lurkers out there to introduce yourselves and join in the discussions.

So if you've been looking for a reason and a way to get your feet wet, here's your chance. Reply here and introduce yourself, then pick a topic and jump right in!

_________________________
"If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him." (John Holt)

I just joined after ordering a Yamaha DGX 630, it's not a real piano I know, but I cant afford, nor have space for one yet

It will be far better then my current PSR-530 which doesnt even have enough keys for the pieces I am learning.

I started playing the keyboard when I was 5, and was really good at it and have been playing almost daily since then, but never got lessons beyond what I learnt in music and afterschool classes because my parents were cheapskates that wouldnt pay for lessons.

But I managed to make my own way to Grade 5 playing ability at 16, Grade 7 by 19, and then got stuck while studying a minor in music for my degree as I didnt really know what I was doing and couldnt get any better due to having a terrible technique. I gave up for almost 2 years when I was 22, and just started playing again last month and have somehow started to make really good progress with grade 8+ pieces, and am practicing a lot better now with scales and excersizes, and seem to understand my instrument a lot better then I did when I was in my teens, hence why I needed to buy a Portable Grand.

Soon I will be self taught to Grade 8+ standard, by the end of 2009 I should be a pro

I hardly know anything about music theory, or classical music, and am mostly going to be learning rag time piano, but I will also learn a few classical pieces too.

I've been lurking quite a bit on this forum, posted a bit on a couple other boards here but not much of a contributor.

I am a busy stay-at-home-mom of two kids (2 and 4) and have recently begun playing piano after a long hiatus. I got tired of not being able to play anything anymore. I've been practicing an average of an hour a day in the month of November. I would like to practice more, but... well... two little kids.

I began piano lessons in the first grade, moved to another country after that and started with a new teacher in second grade and stayed with her until I moved back to Germany in the sixth grade. We had trouble finding consistent teachers there, but somehow I got through it... sort of. I passed off Alfred's level 3 in 8th grade and we moved back to the States where I began lessons again. This is where I really began to learn. The teacher tested me and had me skip level 4 and went right into level 5. I continued to advance in piano and participated in competitions, doing quite well once or twice. Eventually, I was awarded a teeny-tiny piano scholarship to a state university (I think it was a combination of pity and trying to build their music program!) where I immediately slacked off and dropped out of the program. I regret my apathy and laziness so much now 10+ years later. I took lessons for a couple more years and eventually stopped playing almost entirely.

I got married and didn't have a piano for a long time. Finally, soon before the birth of my first child, we got a really old upright that was in storage from the state. It is in surprisingly good condition and is almost in tune. I'm afraid of having it tuned because I'm afraid the strings will break. My neighbor and friend tunes pianos and told me that is very common with pianos as old as mine. I didn't play it much, just once in a while, because I was so busy raising my kids and I didn't make piano a priority.

About a month ago, I found a renewed conviction and began playing again. I sit down and play a few times during the day when I have a moment. The problem is the 2 year old likes to climb on me and sit on my shoulders when I'm playing. My sessions are usually pretty short during the day. I play a lot at night after they go to bed. The little one has only woken up once while I was playing. As long as I don't get too loud, it's usually fine.

I would like to buy a new piano, but there is no way we can afford it right now. Perhaps in a year or so we can get a nice upright. I want a nice piano for my kids to learn on. My goals right now are to perfect and memorize songs I once had perfected. Also, to set a good example of practicing so my kids can see that it is important. Right now I'm working on Chopin nocturne 55.1, Clair de Lune, Bach prealudium 21, Granados' May Song (this one is almost there), Beethoven Sonata no. 8, and a few others. Once I have these songs perfected and (re)memorized, I'm not sure what I'm going to start with. I'm also going back to the books I was studying out of before I stopped lessons, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

I'll probably lurk a lot, because I am in that awkward group of non-beginner but not really advanced, either. I'm trying to improve my skills to become the type of pianist I want to be-- better sight reader, faster at learning songs, can improvise, etc.

Hello,I'm Ira and I've been playing since I was 4(I'm 23 now) though without taking any real lessons for 6 years. I re-started regularly last year with my old teacher which is so amazing and helpful and I'm hoping to get my degree in 2 years. I've lost a lot of technique and strength during my "break" but I think my playing is much more mature now.However I have to work really really hard to reach my goals..I will try to contribute in this wonderful community although I don't believe I can be much help!Anyway, it's nice to be here.Take care

Hello to all. I guess my story isn't too unusual. I started playing when I was in elementary school and took lessons on and off through early high school. After college I purchased a Yamaha digital piano to carry me through until I could purchase my own acoustic piano, but that never happened before life got in the way (work, marriage, kids, work). After a more than 20 year break, I finally got the urge to play again. I convinced the wife to let me purchase a new piano (Pramberger PS 175), then began repurchasing the study books (Hanon, Beringer, Czerny) and music pieces (Sonatina Album, etc.) I had as a kid.

My situation is very similar to Carolyn's. I'm not a beginner, but I'm nowhere near where I used to be technically. Rusty intermediate might be a better description. I only get to play three or four times a week, maybe 20 to 30 minutes while the kids are getting ready for bed.

It's been a bit frustrating, though, because I haven't been able to work out a practice routine. I'm not sure how I'm going to improve over time if I don't follow a consistent routine. One thing that has helped me, however, is the availability of books of classical pieces with an accompanying CD of the music. Taking lessons as a kid more than 35 years ago, I never really knew how these pieces were supposed to sound.

I'm another new member:) I'm 27 and working on my biomedical research PhD in a hemophilia gene therapy lab. I'd been away from lessons for the past 3 years, but after passing qualifying exams last spring, I decided to start piano lessons again. This career is one that can easily swallow up your life, and I decided that, in addition to helping me refine things, the potential embarrassment and financial loss of coming to a weekly lesson without having practiced was exactly the sort of support I needed to keep piano an active part of my life.

I started piano when I was 9 and studied with the same teacher until I went off to university at age 19. I went a year without lessons, then had lessons from piano grad students for two years before I decided to take the plunge and add piano as a second major in addition to molecular biology.

I've done about three years of teaching piano lessons here and there, and I think it's great fun, but I'm not doing any of it right now. I've also taken lots of theory courses and some basic composition classes, and I'm very very slowly working on making a few piano transcriptions.

I'm constantly thinking about pieces that I'd like to play next (as I'm sure most of us are). My favorites are Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach and Alkan, but I love many composers. I have an attraction to Romantic & late Romantic era pieces, especially those of extended length in a cyclical or variation form (eg. Paganini Variations, Totentanz, Symphonic Etudes, Liszt Sonata, Grieg Ballade, etc) as well as colorful transcriptions.

As I was walking home from work a while ago, I was thinking about all the pieces that I really want to play in my life, and I realized that the current total length is about 43 hours worth of music. I think I can work up and record only about 1 hour of music per year, so this is going to be a lifelong project. I hope to contribute to the member recordings forum soon:)

Hi, I'm also a new member. I've been aware of this board for a while, and recognize a few familiar usernames from another forum.

I probably started when I was about 7 or 8, and had my first proper teacher from 11 to 16. After I left school, I stopped playing piano for close on ten years (which I now regret considerably). Since then I'm mostly self-taught, but I realised that I was limiting myself through that approach and have been a fairly regular attendee at a summer school course/masterclass program, which has done me a lot of good.

I'm interested in the hidden riches of the romantic repertoire, composers such as Thalberg, Alkan, Liapunov and others, and I'm particularly interested in piano transcriptions.

I'm a lurker too. Story is pretty similar. I took lessons for years and majored in piano for one year of college before I saw the light and realized I was a competent technician and not a real artist. Got married, lived in tiny houses for many years and played a hammered dulcimer instead. Finally got my grand piano moved into my house about 10 years ago. I go through spasms of playing, and this summer was one of those - I had a serious illness and realized I'm not getting any younger - if I'm going to get good again, it had better be now! For the first time, I've learned some new stuff (Brahms Intermezzi) rather than rehashing what I knew from before. I'm taking lessons again, but not on the classical stuff, but geared towards accompanying other folks who want to play & sing popular music. More about ear-training, finding chords to play, voicing, style......I've also purchased a used but good-feeling digital piano, so I can practice with headphones. I'm hoping that will help me find more time to play - one of my excuses is not wanting to bother anybody.

I have long-term goals of a couple of the big piano concertos (Beethoven #4, Schumann A min) but find them challenging not only technically but the lack of an orchestra or at least a second piano.

Hi! I recently found this forum when I went looking for some information on the fingering for Beethoven's Minuet in G (which I didn't find, but eventually figured out).

I had 10 years of (Suzuki) lessons growing up, then stopped lessons in highschool (what was I thinking...). In college I taught myself to play what I call 'church' piano, by which I mean accompaniment piano improvised from the guitar chords. I also snuck into the music school's piano practice rooms, since I had no piano of my own. When I graduated from college, I bought a Kawaii MP9000 electric piano, which was the very best piano weight/sound keyboard I could find. I've played sporadically since then, learning miscellaneous movie theme music and pop songs, and the odd classical piece.

Last month I decided to officially start practicing regularly again. From a very old book called 'Playing the Piano for Pleasure' I pulled some repertoire ideas, and started with Beethoven's Minuet in G as a way to ease myself back into learning a song from scratch and practicing. It went well, although the fingering was unexpectedly tricky. I've started on Chopin's Prelude in A (all 3 lines), and today pulled out all of my old music books to chose some of the more difficult things I could play once-upon-a-time to relearn.

I was very excited to see your ecitals, I hadn't thought to record the music I've learned for many years, and I look forward to building my own music collection. I plan to buy a piano in a few months, as a reward for all the practicing I will be doing from now on! My husband would like me to buy the piano now, but I think he will regret that...he has never lived with a musician, and doesn't know that listening to someone practicing means sometimes listening to the same 4 measures 50 times...and then the whole piece 50,000 times!

Heya everyone, somewhat of a lurker here because I have posted a few times before looking for help. This place is a great resource for help and opinions from many musicians:D!

I am 21 years old and a late starter. I have only been playing for 3 1/2 years. I'm studying music in college with a minor in business. I would love to eventually become a music theory teacher and give piano lessons.

My favorite composers are Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and Bartok. I'm currently finishing up the Beethoven sonata op. 2 no. 1 in F minor and loving the last movement:). Along with this I am also working on Bach, Brahms and Bartok.

One of my main goals in piano performance is to be able to play the Chopin Ballade No. 3(my fav:D).

I'm another new member:) I'm 27 and working on my biomedical research PhD in a hemophilia gene therapy lab. I'd been away from lessons for the past 3 years, but after passing qualifying exams last spring, I decided to start piano lessons again. This career is one that can easily swallow up your life, and I decided that, in addition to helping me refine things, the potential embarrassment and financial loss of coming to a weekly lesson without having practiced was exactly the sort of support I needed to keep piano an active part of my life.

I started piano when I was 9 and studied with the same teacher until I went off to university at age 19. I went a year without lessons, then had lessons from piano grad students for two years before I decided to take the plunge and add piano as a second major in addition to molecular biology.

I've done about three years of teaching piano lessons here and there, and I think it's great fun, but I'm not doing any of it right now. I've also taken lots of theory courses and some basic composition classes, and I'm very very slowly working on making a few piano transcriptions.

I'm constantly thinking about pieces that I'd like to play next (as I'm sure most of us are). My favorites are Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach and Alkan, but I love many composers. I have an attraction to Romantic & late Romantic era pieces, especially those of extended length in a cyclical or variation form (eg. Paganini Variations, Totentanz, Symphonic Etudes, Liszt Sonata, Grieg Ballade, etc) as well as colorful transcriptions.

As I was walking home from work a while ago, I was thinking about all the pieces that I really want to play in my life, and I realized that the current total length is about 43 hours worth of music. I think I can work up and record only about 1 hour of music per year, so this is going to be a lifelong project. I hope to contribute to the member recordings forum soon:)

Thank you for the welcome!Mark [/b]

And I thought I were the only person that played the Piano on top of studying Science o.O. I studied (and passed) a combined honours in Human Biology with Music, but didnt get a high enough grade to go onto further education in Biology .

I worked in a supermarket for over a year after graduating, but developed an ear disorder in both ears which has destroyed my hearing and balance, and doctors have recently told me I dont have to work for 12 months untill another health assessment and will get incapacity benefit all that time, so I have all the time in the world to try and pursue my dream of having a career in music, however long it may take me.

My ears dont work too well and I want to be a pianist or composer / songwriter lol.

Originally posted by Bhav: And I thought I were the only person that played the Piano on top of studying Science o.O. I studied (and passed) a combined honours in Human Biology with Music, but didnt get a high enough grade to go onto further education in Biology .

I worked in a supermarket for over a year after graduating, but developed an ear disorder in both ears which has destroyed my hearing and balance, and doctors have recently told me I dont have to work for 12 months untill another health assessment and will get incapacity benefit all that time, so I have all the time in the world to try and pursue my dream of having a career in music, however long it may take me.

My ears dont work too well and I want to be a pianist or composer / songwriter lol. [/b]

I don't study science, but... I personally know two very good pianists who are physicians, whom I presume studied science as an undergrad. One of them was a professional pianist for some time, I believe. I am accompanying both of them in a musical number and I am by far the weakest pianist of the three of us But that's okay-- one of the physicians is not much of a singer so I think we'll be just fine.

As a side note, all of a sudden people actually know I play piano and have been asking me to play for them on occasion. Just accompnyment hymnstyle, which has always been my weakness. Since I've been practicing, I feel so much more confident about how I play. But I'm so clumsy still! I'll just keep plugging along I guess. Maybe one day I'll be really good. I can only hope!

Originally posted by carolyn227:As a side note, all of a sudden people actually know I play piano and have been asking me to play for them on occasion. Just accompnyment hymnstyle, which has always been my weakness. Since I've been practicing, I feel so much more confident about how I play. But I'm so clumsy still![/b]

Personally, I hate accompanying (mostly because I'm very particular in what I want to play), but I had a take an accompanying/sightreading class in undergrad in addition to accompanying at least one person every semester. My teacher in that class really helped me along. The best exercise she gave us was the following:

She'd give us something to sightread, give us a moment to look through it, and then we had to pick any tempo and stick to it exactly. If we messed up, we had to keep in mind where the flow of the music should have gone and come back in there, and we were not allowed to look at our hands at all. If she saw us look, she'd get out a 3-ring binder and hold it at our chest level below our faces so we couldn't see the keyboard.

It seems severe, but it really helps you develop your abilities because you never have to look away from the music if your hands can do it without the help of your eyes. Realistically speaking, even when sight-reading you're probably going to look away for big leaps, but when you're working on developing your sense of the keyboard, it's impressive how close you can come to the right note even in very big leaps without looking at all. I bet Carolyn, that if you practiced this for just 15 minutes a day, you'd get vastly better at playing hynm-style accompaniment:)

Originally posted by Bhav: And I thought I were the only person that played the Piano on top of studying Science o.O. I studied (and passed) a combined honours in Human Biology with Music, but didnt get a high enough grade to go onto further education in Biology .

I worked in a supermarket for over a year after graduating, but developed an ear disorder in both ears which has destroyed my hearing and balance, and doctors have recently told me I dont have to work for 12 months untill another health assessment and will get incapacity benefit all that time, so I have all the time in the world to try and pursue my dream of having a career in music, however long it may take me.

My ears dont work too well and I want to be a pianist or composer / songwriter lol. [/b]

Actually, I've met a few other scientist/musicians in my days. At my school we just had a med art show, where all doctors, researchers, med student and grad students were invited to submit visual or performance art. There was quite a turnout (mostly paintings), but there were two pianists besides myself, and last year there was also a string quartet!

That's tough luck about your ear disorder! Sorry to hear it. But there's always Beethoven to keep in mind as an idol. Where there's a will there's a way. Good luck!

I'm from New York and I just turned 29. I started playing the piano when I was 6 and stopped when I was 12. I stopped because my family needed to move. Since then, I was basically playing without any lessons, which was unfortunate. So you could say, I haven't had a lesson in 16 years!

I was originally from the Philippines and moved to New York in 2004. I'm looking to buy a digital piano in the next few weeks (Yamaha YDP-160) and get back into the grove!

I am interested in meeting people in New York, preferably around Long Island who I can share time with in learning and improving my skills on the Piano.

This website is absolutely a great thing for us pianist to share our passion, ideas and experience!

_________________________..::Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage::..

I'm Daniel, 18 years old and I live in the Netherlands in a village near Amsterdam.

I started playing the piano when I was about 8 years old, taking lessons once a week until I was 14. Like a lot of children of that age, I didn't feel like practicing a lot and I wasn't really into playing the piano so I quit taking lessons and barely played anymore.

When I was 17 I regained interest in the piano and tried to learn myself some songs and chunks out of classical pieces that weren't too hard. 3 months ago I called my old teacher and made an appointment, which led to me having regular lessons once again .

I'm now playing some Scarlatti sonata's (K466 & K467) and I'm working on a Mazurka by Chopin (op 7 no 1).

I've really enjoyed reading the threads on this forum and I thought that I should introduce myself. I love playing the piano, I think and hope that I will progress fast and that I will be of some use for this forum.

Seth Darst, professor of bio-physics at Rockefeller University just performed with the I Medici Orchestra in Montreal, played the Mozart Concerto d minor no.20 at McGill University. He was wonderful!! He was not a music major but got to study with good teachers. http://www.imedici.mcgill.ca He is also on youtubecom competing 2 years ago in Amateur Competitions.

I'm 13 years old and have been playing piano for 7 1/2 years. I love it more than life itself, and not that many people know it because I'm kind of quite, and one of those girls who you would kind of assume doesn't do anything worth while. It was kind of interesting when I signed up for the keyboarding class last year and they gave us beginner's keyboarding books. I was pretty much terrified of everyone because I was alone in the class and didn't want to speak up. Finally, when we were being tested on Hanon 1 (something I already knew but didn't tell anybody) everybody was expecting this one kid to be the fastest. Then I played it up and down the piano in 14 seconds (compared to his 22 seconds) and everybody was pretty shocked. I had to bit my tongue to keep from laughing.

I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before posting. I'm Linda but prefer to be called Curly. I joined this forum specifically to ask about the grace note rules and how they relate to accidentals. I took lessons when I was much much younger and am still working at it. I have learned a lot from reading the forum. I live in California.

Grobanite23
Junior Member
Registered: 12/17/08
Posts: 15
Loc: United States

Hi I just joined today. I've been looking for a place where I can discuss piano since I don't know that many people that play.

I started playing when I was 12 and I have been playing for 7 years now. My parents got me a keyboard for Christmas in 2000. My mom helped me learn my first song since she knew how to play a little. (It was from John Thompson's modern course for the piano first grade book if any of you learned from that series) I started taking lessons 4 months later. I got to the second book in Alfred's basic piano series and then my teacher was unable to give lessons anymore.

I then started taking lessons from someone else I knew. She encouraged my parents to buy me a real piano. I was able to find a used one and traded in the keyboard for part of the price. I liked her teaching style better She didn't mind if I made mistakes as long as I knew how to fix them. At recitals, her students had a choice of bringing their music up with them or not. My first recital went pretty well, which is wierd because my second one went worse. I tried to play without the music and I forgot the notes halfway through. (It was a good thing I had my music with me) Before the next recital, I made sure that I had it memorized at I could stop and start anywhere in the song from memory. This recital was successful and I played without the music (one of my recital pieces was Jesu joy of man's Desiring) I began to play at my church since the piano player left there. I had reached the level 6 book of the Alfred series by the time I was 15. Sadly, my piano teacher passed away later that year.

I have been playing on my own for four years now. I have been playing a variety of different music from movies (Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Charlie Brown Christmas), classical music, and music from Josh Groban. (my favorite singer ) I don't have the same patience I had before to sit down to learn a piece and perfect it. I have been practicing many different songs off and on.

It was not until high school that I decided that I wanted to be a music teacher. I am going to a community college right now to take music theory and then I will transfer to a university. I put off taking music theory 1 because I heard that it was hard from someone who does not play the piano. Because of this I am spending an extra year in college. The first class turned out to be very easy I am about to take the second of six music theory courses next quarter. I also decided to take lessons from the college to see how it works out.

Since I saw the movie The Pianist, I wanted to learn Chopin's Ballade no. 1. I started practicing that earlier this year but it's been hard with school going on. I have to say it's the hardest song I've ever played but I like it so much that I won't stop practicing it. It is my favorite song for the piano (so far). I look back at other music I've been playing at notice how easy it is compared to when I first learned it. My favorite composer is Chopin and I want to learn more of his songs once it get this one down. I have been listening to more classical piano music and finding even more songs that I want to play to keep me occupied for a while.

I discovered this forum by accident, googling about, and joined because I love the piano, writing and reading. What better way to combine all three?

Thus I find myself a new 'Junior Member', which is delightful considering I am approaching retirement age and had to quit playing when rheumatism destroyed my hands.

For many years I was hung up on Schumann, perhaps because the first 20 bars of 'Kreisleriana' was the first passage of piano music I could not even approximately reproduce by ear. What sequence of notes generated that incredible impression of glorious lunacy? It still seems marvelous to me that anyone could come up with such stuff.

In later years, I accepted ignominous defeat with 'Scarbo' (I guess I'm not alone there! -- and to be honest, I really don't like it that much) and switched to chamber music, where I had a new K-experience, with Shostokovich's Cello Sonata. You have to play Shostokovich to appreciate the subtlety of his harmonies, often so remote they send shivers down the spine.

Quite enough from me!

Many thanks to the forum gurus for setting up this opportunity for us to share our common passion.

Hi, I am Sabien. I started to join this forum few days ago, it was introduced by my piano teacher. This forum is pretty cool and i learned quite alot in here. I am Malaysia borned Chinese, but going to Massachusettes on next Friday under AU PAIR program.I started my piano since age 5. I'm now 20 years, currenntly just finish LTCL (Licienctiate of Trinily London College).I am so keen to find a music school in US so that i can continue learning besides taking care of children. Nice to catch up with everyone here, take care!

Hey, Im Josh and I'm from Australia. i found this forum by accident and i've been reading posts for about a month, so i've finally decided to join in. I just turned 15 and started piano when i was 9, basically I have big hands (span almost 13 keys, and very, very thin and apparently very fast fingers, I do lack technique however, but i'm getting better. Up until about a year ago I hated piano, and have always been and still am a VERY keen basicall player. I hated piano mainly because my teacher didn't believe in skipping grades, so I was playing pieces to easy for me, and I didn't see the point. I then got a new teacher who was bad as well because he believed when I was 13 I was too young and immature on the piano to to grade 7, it wasn't how I played, it was my age. When I did the exam I still found the pieces easy. I am now with a very good teacher who put me straight into amusa. I just finished learning Prelude in G Minor, Rachmaninoff op 23 no 5, but I will start learning it again when I do my elmusa, after my amusa next june. For amusa I will be playing Chopin Valse in E Minor op posthumous (already learnt) Elite Syncapations by Mary Mageau (already learnt) Elegy (Rachmaninoff op 3 no 1) Beethoven Sonata Fantasia in E major. (op 27 no 1)and another piece. My favourite composer is liszt, favourite piece is Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 Liszt/Horowitz, and I will start learning it in about 6 months. My favourite modern pianist is Lang Lang (I know, you guys don't like him.)Anyway these days I love the piano, and throughout my life I have only practised an hour a day, or less, and most days I would skip practise because I hated it so much, but now I have started practising a lot more, and the results are already coming fast. This was a long post but thats it, thats my piano life Thanks

Many of you played for a long time. For me its better late than Never. I'm 21 now and started piano I think at the age of 19. I am currently study the Arti of Anime, and Graphic Arts and Concept Art. It only been a Two years or less,a nd I've gotten about 4-5 new books my teacher assign me to. They are Schuman - albums for the young, Sonatina Album, Little pischna (stregthen my fingers), Bach Inventions, Chopin introductions. I secretly bought Chopin - Polonaises VOL III, because the 53 Heroic rocks. I've been practicing alot lately I think 3-5 hours a day. Will I make it where the pros are?

I love Music and Art, my dad also loves em but he plays the guitar for a long time. But I find something in the piano, thats why i love it so much.

Well, I guess you can call me Avarice. I'll use that as my internet handle. I'll tell you that I'm 13 and don't feel comfortable revealing much more than that, but my dream is to go to New York and study at NYU with a double major in quantum mechanics and piano. :p

Asides from piano I play the flute and violin, but I recently quit flute to concentrate on piano.

My favorite composer is Chopin-- I love his pieces. I recently learned his Waltz in E Minor (op. posthumous) and won a competition with it. I'm fond of fast, flashy songs, but I like the occasional slow one that you can really express yourself with. I also love the Debussy preludes, and currently I'm listening to the violin and piano version of Chopin's Etude in E Major (Tristesse). I like Rostropovich and Rubinstein.

I love music-- frankly, it's helped me out a lot. I began piano when I was five, violin when I was around nine (?) or so, and flute at eleven. I consider myself proficient on all of them. XD.

I try to practice, but it's hard to get in enough practice for what used to be three (now only two) instruments. For a long time I couldn't decide between violin and piano, but I love them both equally and decided on piano because I'd have a better chance as I'd been studying it longer.

I'm excited that I've found this board so I can communicate with other piano lovers like me.

Hi, I am Lucine, I did not play for more than 8 years, and like Ira I also lost technique and my hand hurts but I am much better in understanding music and I perform with feeling and conviction.I have tree kids and they were partly responsieble for me not playing.